Waiting Up
by Foundations of Stone
Summary: Post Ocarina of Time. Malon and her daughter, Tara, are waiting up for Link on Christmas Eve. Fluffy oneshot. Malink if you hadn't guessed already.


**Hey guys! Christmas is right around the corner, and I thought I'd do something fluffy... Just so you know, this oneshot is based off of the theory that Link did end up marrying Malon after defeating Ganondorf and reliving the seven years that he lost. Yup, I support Malink. :P**

**Also, I am unfamiliar with child development so I really didn't know at what age children begin to speak in sentences. All I know is that I started reading chapter books when I was three, so I must have been speaking before then. XD **

**Hope you guys like this. :)**

**Disclaimer: Nintendo owns the Zelda franchise... Trust me, if I owned Zelda, Link would have more entertaining 'sidekicks ( or guides, whatever floats your boat)' like Midna! Plus, Malon would have another appearance, as would Midna...**

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><p>Malon sighed as she stared out the window at the rapidly falling snow. What had, earlier that day, seemed like a pleasant December snowfall, had become a violent storm. Some of the smaller, younger trees were leaning towards the barn where all of the cows were kept, struggling to hold up the amount of snow on their bare branches and the snow level was beginning to rise to the lower part of the window.<p>

_I __hope __Link __is __alright_ she thought to herself before turning away from the window and picking up a needle, thread, and some popcorn to string on the Christmas tree with her daughter, Tara. The four year old was stabbing a piece of popcorn, trying to get the threaded needle through it with a determined look in her blue-green eyes. Tara glanced up from her popcorn string to stare questioningly at her mother " when's Daddy gonna get home?" " I don't know" she murmured, popping a piece of popcorn absentmindedly into her mouth.

" Hey!" Tara cried " that's for that tree!" the girl then proceeded to throw a piece of popcorn at her mother, hitting her right in the middle of the forehead. Malon quickly stuck her tongue out as the popcorn bounced off her head in hopes of catching it, causing her daughter to giggle. She mock glared at Tara before she threw her own piece of popcorn at the laughing girl " and what might you be laughing at?" she asked, ducking as another piece of popcorn whizzed over her head.

Malon and Tara then began to have an all out popcorn war. They ran around the house, throwing popcorn at each other and ducking behind furniture to avoid flying pieces. An hour or so later, there was popcorn _everywhere-_there was so much popcorn, that you couldn't step anywhere without stepping on some pieces.

" Alright" Malon turned to Tara " time for bed" the girl pouted " but I wanted to stay up till' Daddy gets here!" She sighed, kneeling down so that she was at eye level with her daughter " not tonight, but you can see him in the morning. I promise." The girl then tried to give Malon her best puppy-eyes, after all, who couldn't resist puppy-eyes? Apparently Malon could though, as she picked up the protesting girl and carried her up the stairs. What she didn't expect though, was that the already wound up child would run off as soon as she was set down, and hide somewhere in the house.

Fifteen minuets later, Malon still could not find her red-haired daughter. She was all out of ideas for trying to lure Tara out of her hiding place when she remembered. Tara loved hearing stories from when her parents were younger. " hey, Tara. How would you like to hear a story?" she called, searching for any signs of movement. " Can it be the one where Daddy saves Epona from that nasty, old, Ingo?" Tara's voice appeared to be coming from under the couch. Malon crossed the room to the couch, laid down on her stomach so that she could see the little girl, and smiled " if that's the one that you want, then yes." " Yay!" Tara cheered from her place underneath the couch causing Malon to smile once more " alright then, why don't you come out now as we'll get started on that story." she offered as she got up from her place on the floor.

She suddenly heard a bang, and a yelp of pain as Tara scrambled to get out of her hiding spot. " What's wrong, are you alright?" Malon asked as she dropped down on the floor again to see what was wrong. Tara whimpered " I'm stuck!" and began trying desperately to wriggle out from underneath the couch " I'll never get out again!" she wailed. As horrifying as this was for the four year old, Malon could not help herself and began to chuckle while lifting up the couch as far as her arms would let her, freeing Tara from her prison. She laughed as the little girl immediately scrambled to her feet, dashed away from the couch, and hid behind Malon.

Upon hearing her mother laugh at her misery, a scowl soon appeared on Tara's round face. " Why are you laughing?" she sniffed, coming out from behind her mother so that she could face Malon. " The monsters could 'ave eat'n me!" Malon knelt down in front of the upset girl and smiled comfortingly " don't worry, I would _never_ allow a monster to eat you." Although her tone was light, she subconsciously placed her hand over the pocket in her dress where she stored the Kokiri sword that Link had insisted she always keep nearby.

******Flashback******

" There are more people and creatures out there that harm others for pure pleasure than you might think" Link had warned Malon as he had passed her the sword. She had gently pushed the sword away, and attempted to remind the hero that she only left the ranch during the day and most monsters came out at night. Plus, monsters never came to the ranch.

Link shook his head sighing " but not all monster are nocturnal, I've actually met quite a few when I was out in Hyrule Field _during__ the __day_. Also, there are monsters that come here-" He stopped speaking when he noticed the terrified look in her eyes. " Don't worry, they aren't some of the more dangerous monsters, but they are still monsters." She had shuddered at the thought of monsters on the ranch somewhere.

Glancing out the window at the sun that was just beginning to come up on the edge of the horizon Link sighed " I'd better be going if I want to be home before nightfall." And with that, he turned and walked towards the door. Malon picked up the sword from it's spot on the table and slid it into her pocket. Turning to Link, she sighed " if you're that concerned, I'll keep the sword with me but, I still think it's unnecessary." Link chuckled as he walked out the door, hauled himself onto Epona,and trotted back up to the door.

Link smiled and said a quiet thank you before turning and riding towards the Lon Lon Ranch entrance, the morning sun reflecting off his hair, turning it a bright gold. Malon watched him until the stone surrounding the ranch blocked him from her sight before turning and heading inside to make breakfast.

*****End Flashback*****

"Mama!" came Tara's shrill voice from the top of the stairs. Malon glanced up and saw the girl standing there, hand on hips, and a scow on her face. She smiled and started up the stairs muttering " I'm coming, I'm coming." As soon as she reached the top, Tara grabbed her hand and began to pull towards her room. She rolled her eyes as she allowed her daughter to pull her towards the small bed.

" And then he-" Malon broke off as she realized that Tara had already fallen asleep. Smiling softly, she lifted Tara off her lap, placed her on the bed, pulled her blanket up, and left the room. " Oh goddess" she groaned as she realized just how much popcorn they had tossed around the house. " At least I have something to do now" she grumbled, bending down to pick up one piece that she was about to step on.

She had just grabbed the last piece when she heard a loud neigh coming from the yard, causing her to jump. Malon thought that the neigh sounded suspiciously like Epona's neigh. Quickly grabbing her cloak, she ran out the door into the cold night.

"Link!" Malon shouted as she saw the hero ride towards the house, covered in snow. Link grinned as he caught sight of her and waved her over as he began to lead Epona into the barn. She quickly picked the bottom of her dress, and ran as fast as her legs would carry her towards the now opened barn.

She felt the comforting warmth of the barn slowly melt the snow on her until it was only cool puddles of water on her skin. As she turned the corner , Malon saw Link shutting the gate on Epona's stall while murmuring " that's a good girl" to Epona while feeding the horse an apple from his pocket. " Where exactly have you been all this time?" she asked, causing the blonde to jump slightly and turn around to face her. His look of surprise quickly turned into a small smile "I was in Castle Town, there were a few things I needed to take care of." " plus, I picked up something" he added as he pulled a small, carved, wooden box out of his pocket.

Upon opening the box, she gasped. Inside was a necklace, it had a green teardrop shaped jewel hanging from a thin gold chain. Her reaction must have been amusing for Link as he laughed when he saw her staring at the necklace with wide eyes. Link's smile grew as he took her hand and led Malon over to a nearby window " here" he said,taking the necklace out of the box, fastening it around her neck, and turning her so that she could see her reflection in the window.

Malon smiled as she softly touched it with her hand, the green jewel seemed to match the shade of her eyes perfectly. " it's beautiful" she murmured turning to Link with shining eyes, and nearly making him fall over as she hugged him. Link merely chuckled as he bent his neck to whisper in her ear

" Merry Christmas, Mal"

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><p><strong>So, waddya think guys? I've never really written something like this before. My brother's former speech class teacher would have referred to this as fluff as there's really no point and nothing really happens, but I don't know if that's how the people on Fanfiction use the term...<strong>

**Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this, it's shorter that I would like it to be but I really won't have much time to work on it anymore as Christmas is in FIVE DAYS! Are you guys pumped for Christmas?**

**If you guys review, tell me what you like the most about Christmas, or what you're looking forward to this year. :) For me, it's probably being able to just relax all day, which is something I don't get to do very often ( even on weekends). **

**Review, review, review!**

**Merry Christmas :)**

**~ Foundations of Stone**

**P.S. I've been considering changing my name to either The Pied Piper or December's Child... Which do you prefer?  
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